June - July 2012 - EDEN engagement picked up again as fires in Colorado rage out of control and fires are having impacts in other states. National VOAD, our EDEN Partner, forwarded a request for assistance. See Requests for Assistance, below.

Flood Insurance "concession" in areas at increased risk due to wildfires

The recently passed Transportation Bill (which included reform and reauthorization of the NFIP) instituted a waiver of the normal 30-day waiting period in certain situations related to wildfires. Please see the FEMA Release for details. Consider advising clients downhill from large wildfires to assess their increased risk and purchase flood insurance before floods start forming.

March 2012 - a large grassland fire ravaged Yuma County (CO) over St. Patrick's Day weekend, taking a heavy toll on residents, livestock, and wildlife. Pueblo County Extension Director Marvin Reynolds turned to the EDEN network for help, recalling that several states had dealt with fires last year.

Select Event Name "Wildfires Colorado Summer 2012" when reporting on that disaster.

Reports of Extension impacts and activity are forwarded to our EDEN-NIFA liaisons as the Response Notes are received. Highlights are shared with delegates through this page. Fire updates were received from Colorado and Michigan in March. Some of the information is posted below.

Requests for Assistance

Responses to requests, as well as resources offered spontaneously, are presented on the "Resources Collected" page

June 27: From our National VOAD partner, two requests:

Residents in the affected area need the tools to clear debris from their property and to start cleaning up their homes.

Several craftsmen (carpenter, wood workers) live in the affected area and have lost their tools in the fire. These tools are their livelihoods and they may be needing assistance to replace them.

If you can assist, please contact bill.tolbert@gmail.com (this link generates email to Bill AND to Pat Skinner at LSU, so EDEN knows you responded)

March 19: Colorado's initial request was for assistance in four areas:

information on managing rangeland fire recovery and blowout and the blowing ash

information on managing a large burn area (post fire).

factsheets on dealing with losses of building, equipment and livestock.

helping youth recover - the fire cut a swath through a pretty heavy 4-H influenced area; we expect many 4-H families will have lost their livestock projects

Response Notes from Members

Colorado

Disaster Event Name:

Wildfires Spring 2012

SituationAwareness:

Over the weekend Yume County in Northeast Colorado experienced a large grassland fire. We lost buildings, equipment and livestock. From Michael Fisher, Golden Plains Area Range and Livestock Agent: We did lose a lot of rangeland (thousands of acres) and sand/ash blowing at 40+ mph is drifting throughout the region. (Likely will have some wheat cut.) At sunset it already looked like the photos from the dust bowl. Also, dozens upon dozens of barns, corrals, tractors, field equipment, & trailers were lost; as well as a few houses. (Our volunteer firefighters literally stood in the flames to save many houses. It was inspiring to see. Several got a trip to the hospital to reward them for their efforts.) A lot of livestock/wildlife were lost as well. Numbers will have to be verified in the morning/week ahead, but will likely be significant. Calves just laid down and tried to hide from the flames and cows wouldn't leave them. (That in itself was pretty hard on our fire crews.) And those that did survive are wandering roads tonight because miles of fence are gone. (Part of the reason the evacuation order is still in place until daylight.) Our CEM is calling for the initial assessment tour to start shortly after sun up, so hopefully, we'll have a better idea by tomorrow afternoon just how big it was.

ImpactUni:

See situation, also "suspect Jolynn will be hearing from some 4-H families with sad news regarding their livestock projects."

UseofEDENResourcs:

Putting out the call...

CommentsKudos:

From Michael: Thanks to those who checked on me today and thanks in advance for any info you can provide on fire recovery and stabilizing land.

ResponseNoteFeedback:

Submitted by P. Skinner based on email from Marvin Reynolds 9:24 a.m. CDT March 19, 2012

DisasterInstitution:

Colorado State University - Entered by PSkinner for M Reynolds based on e-mails received March 19, 9:30 a.m.

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